Chenopod As Cultigen: a Re-Evaluation of Some Prehistoric Collections from Eastern North America

Abstract

Evidence for prehistoric cultivation of Chenopodium in eastern North America is largely conjectural. Exsiccated seeds recovered in the 1920s and 1930s from Ozark Bluff Dweller sites, Newt Kash rock-shelter in Kentucky, and the Hill site, Nebraska, provided what was apparently the best evidence. Some seeds indentified as Chenopodium were larger than any native species, and similarities to a cultivated Mexican species C. Nuttaliiae Safford had been noted. Re-examination shows that the largest seeds are actually poke weed {Phyto lacca). The remaining seeds, which are described and compared with native species and with C. Nuttaliiae, most closely resemble the native C. Bushianum Aellen. Apparent differences from C. Bushianum in seed size, cross-section, and seed coat markings are largely resolved by documenting variability in modern collections. Field study suggests that phenotypic polymorphism (due to age at flowering?) accounts for much of the variability. Implications for the study of prehistoric horticulture in eastern North America are discussed.